CHAPTER 425: GREAT

"You have something to eat?" Natsumi-san asked after we broke off from the long hug. I looked at the time, and it was almost five. Don’t tell me she ate nothing until then.

"Natsumi-san, when did you have your last meal?" I asked, narrowing my eyes, and she slowly started turning away. Oi, look at me, dammit. I let out a sigh and stood up. "I think we have some leftover rice, but I have to see if they are even good enough to eat. That fridge was not used for a long time."

"Planning on making some fried rice?" she asked me, and I nodded. It was a quick, easy, and tasty dish that Natsumi-san quite enjoyed. Plus, it was filled to the brim with carbs, which she needs a lot given her job. Her large appetite made a lot of sense. "You thought of something rude right now."

Her intuitions are scary as always.

I quickly made my escape before the hammer of judgment would be brought down on me. Opening the fridge, I found some leftover rice and, luckily, some vegetables and eggs to put in the rice. I did make pancakes this morning, so I know the eggs were still good, but the rice looked like it had seen better days. Well, this is going to make the process longer, and I doubt Natsumi-san will be too patient about the food.

Maybe we still have some snacks left that haven’t gone bad. I opened the cupboard above and found some unopened bags of chips. This should be enough to calm her for now.

"The food will take some time to cook, so you eat this in the meantime," I said, tossing the bag of chips in her direction, which she caught without even looking.

"I thought you had some lunch prepared already. Got no leftovers?" she asked, opening the bag.

"Well, we ordered in for lunch, so I didn’t cook anything. We were gone for a long time, and the grocery shopping hadn’t been done yet, so any cooked stored food we had had to be thrown away," I explained, and she nodded her head in response. No, this is where you are supposed to tell me that it’s fine, then I don’t have to go that far for you. Then again, it is Natsumi-san we are talking about. She never misses a chance to have a home-cooked meal. She says it has a warm feeling to it. Well, not like I mind cooking her food, she always eats it with some eagerness makes me feel proud seeing her finish every last piece of it.

I brought out the rice and measured it in the cup before putting it in the rice cooker. Adding some water to the rice cooker and a little salt to give it some more flavour, I turned it on and got back to sit with them. Since the rice is cooked right now, they have to refrigerate it to dry it out for fried rice, so it’ll take longer. I did have some instant ramen packets, but I’d rather have home-cooked fried rice than those. Plus, she prefers them anyway, so it’s just better that way.

"Kazu-kun likes that kind of play too?" Ai said to Natsumi-san while noting something down in her phone. I quickly pulled her away from.

"What are you teaching her?" I asked, my face turning red.

"What? She asked me what things you liked, and I remember finding those books you had stored away, so I’m just helping her out," she said with a little smirk on her face. Don’t give me that look. "She was the one who asked me in the first place, so I decided to tell her."

"I-wha-firstly how did you even find those??" I asked, stepping away from her. "What were you doing snooping around in the room of a boy? Is that appropriate behaviour of an adult?"

"It’s not like I was looking for them, I found them when I was changing the cameras in your room," she said, and my face dropped. What do you mean by cameras in my room? Huh? What? WHAT?

"WHEN DID YOU DO THAT?!" I ended up yelling. "Why would you be doing that?"

"Kid, you had the blood of the first in your body and were a target since the moment you were born. I can’t stay by your side all the time. What else do you expect me to do? Moreover, they were thermal ones to monitor anyone who steps into your room or even comes near it. You don’t realize how much goes into keeping you alive," she explained in a matter-of-fact voice, and I just had the most deadpanned look on my face.

"So that is why you visited me often," I said, holding my head in my hands. "And here I thought it was just to make me cook for you."

"It was to have you cook for me; the changing of the cameras was a secondary," she said honestly. I didn’t get any else from her. Thank you, Natsumi-san, for never changing.

"Wait, then that means," I said with my eyes widened, and she nodded. We both looked at Ai, and she tilted her head cutely as a confused look formed on her face.

"NO WAY!" It was her chance to shout this time. "Y-you k-knew all along?"

"Yes, I did," she said, and Ai covered her face in embarrassment and ran towards me, pressing her head against my chest. "This is the worst. I wanted to have a good impression on her, finally, and she knew all along!"

"I am more surprised you thought I didn’t know," Natsumi-san said, shrugging her shoulders. "Kazuki has every vampire the Earth after him, so of course I will keep an eye on all of them who came in the general vicinity of him. It would be idiotic of me if I didn’t."

"Wait, you didn’t plant anything here, right?" I asked her out of concern, and she shook her head. "I decided to let you two have your time alone, and now that you know about your situation, I thought it would be best to let you look out for yourself, too. I may not always be there to protect you."

She is right about that. Natsumi-san still has a lot more stuff to take care of than just making sure I don’t do something that gets me killed. I am not a toddler, so I should at least have the basic awareness of my situation and look after myself. It’s not like I am alone anymore, unlike before. I have Ai and Akira by my side, who I can trust to have my back when the time comes.

"Since we were already on that topic, I need to bring this up now. I honestly wanted to keep holding it out for a little longer, given the situation, but things have spiralled a lot more than before," she explained and looked at both of us with a stern look on her face. "Both of you, come live with me for the time being."

"Huh?!" We both looked at her with a confused look on our faces. I know I wanted to bring up moving to a different place to Ai, but this is too sudden.

"Natsumi-san, what happened?" I asked her, knowing full well that if she was rushing into this decision, it had to have a big reason behind it.

"The VEO is after you two," she explained, and both her mouth dropped hearing the news. First, they suspend us, and now they are after us. Seriously, what is with these guys?

"I don’t understand. If that was the case, why hasn’t James mentioned any of it?" I asked her as I grabbed Ai’s arm, which I could see shaking.

"He didn’t think he would be the right person to break this news to you," she said and let out a sigh. "Yesterday, a meeting was held where they decided whether or not to kill you and Ai, given the potential threat you may be. I was dragged into that meeting by James, and before we knew it, I started losing patience with hearing any more of their stupidity and announced that anyone who wishes to come after you has to go through me."

"Natsumi-san..." Ai said.

"Don’t make that face, you kids are sure not the brightest bunch, but I know you don’t deserve to be treated this way. There was no way I would sit and let them lay their hands on you two," she announced, and my chest started to swell up with more respect for her. Just how much is she taking on herself? It’s quite hypocritical of her to say ask me not to take too much on my shoulders and then she goes and does the exact thing she told me against.

"That is because, unlike you, I have the means and strength to take all this on. This is my job after all."

"Can you read minds, too, now?" I blurted out.

"In any case, you will, of course, have the backing of James and everyone from the VEO branch here, but we cannot say the same for the other branches. It is best to expect them to come after you, so you have to move forward with a lot more caution. So, both of you, come live with me. That is the best way I can protect you until you are strong enough to stand your ground."

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